Page 70 of Dark Sun (Wicked Lovely 6)

“Trust me on this one,” he said. “I trustyou, Ash. On everything. On the things you’ve done that scared me, of co-ruling a court with another man—”

“Not fair!” she interrupted. “He had the court first and—”

“Itrustyou,” Seth repeated, pulling her toward the ground, tumbling them out of the bed in her room that was currently dangling from the ceiling from a tangle of vines.

She looked over the edge as he half-leaped to the floor. Looking up, he added, “And I trust you not to give away all of your heart if you get . . . interested in someone when I’m away in Faerie.”

“My heart is yours,” she swore.

“I know. Right now, that’s truth.” He caught her as she leaped down. Admittedly, she would’ve been fine anyhow, but she liked that he did so all the same. “But the Summer Court—in its entire history—has never had a monogamous regent until the last few years.”

“I know.” She looked away, embarrassed at the direction the conversation had gone.

“Summer is a time of pleasure, of joy, of languid days naked and satisfied,” he told her, pulling her gaze back to him.

“So . . .” She motioned to the bed they’d just vacated. “Why can’t we stay here? Do just that?”

Seth gave her a patient look. “Because I’mnotSummer, Ash. In order to be fey at all, I have obligations that . . . I need to go, and she wants you to come this time. I can’t make you, but I’maskingyou to come with me because I’m going.”

Aislinn looked around the room, hating the flicker of apprehension she felt at the thought. Her court was where she belonged. That was unchanging, but he’d never forced the matter.

“And if I asked you to stay?”

Seth grabbed her and kissed her like he would suffocate her, and within a few moments, she realized that she’d begun tugging him into a bower of flowering vines again.

“Please don’t. I’ll be here later,” he promised.

And Aislinn pouted at the refusal. There was a hunger that embarrassed her since realizing that his logical side wasn’t always willing to frolic as she wanted. She didn’t love him any less than when she was mortal. If anything, she loved him more, but she had more than a few moments of resenting the things that pulled him away from her. A flicker of awareness washed over her that he knew that, and it was why he was, in essence, giving her permission to be . . . more like the rest of court. She just wasn’t sure how she felt about that. What she’d wanted was for him to give her more of his attention, not suggest she . . . outsource her needs.

But that wasn’t what she wanted to deal with right now. She pulled away from Seth and said, “So you can hear her in your head now?”

“Mother? Yeah. She summons me sometimes.” He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal that another regent called him away from her, that he was not bothered at all by it.

“And you still do favors for Niall, too?” she murmured.

“Ash?”

“I can’t, Seth. I can’t deal with the fact that I keep losing swaths of your time for them.” Aislinn stepped back. “I’m not saying never, but I’m not coming with you. I have a trial to handle, a prisoner to see to, and there are new building plans for the adjacent block.”

“The adjacent block?”

“I bought it.” She pulled a dress over her head and left the room, calling back, “I guess I’ll see you when you pencil me in again.”

When she walked away, she hated that her tears were making the entire loft fill with a rainstorm. The door to the bedroom slammed closed as Seth left, so she knew he was going.

A part of her hoped he’d follow.

A part of her whispered that she could follow.

But most of her knew that he was not wholly hers. It wasn’t that she wanted a consort like Donia had—or two like Niall had. She simply wanted to be the regent who held his loyalty, and it felt more and more like Sorcha beckoned him whenever she wanted. It was no longer the few months of time they’d agreed to in order for him to be a faery.

Was it so wrong to want to be the most important faery in his life? Was it so wrong that he be there for her more than when he found the time? It wasn’t just about the sex. It was about wanting to share dances, meals, lazy mornings, to tell him about her day, and to spend her nights in his arms.

Five years, and they were still where they’d been as teenagers.

Keenan was willing to let the world burn for Donia.

Niall all but burned it down for Irial.

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